Business travellers to Belgium will not need to apply for the long-awaited European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) until at least early 2027 after EU officials quietly acknowledged further delays to the underlying Entry/Exit System (EES). The slippage was confirmed in a 26 February 2026 briefing note circulated to travel media and referenced in several outlets’ daily digests, including *The Portugal Brief*. ETIAS—often dubbed “Europe’s ESTA”—will eventually require passport-exempt visitors from 59 countries (the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Brazil and others) to obtain a €20 electronic permit before entering any Schengen state, Belgium included. Brussels Airport and Charleroi had planned to complete extensive e-gate upgrades and staff training this summer, but sources at the Federal Police now say the timetable will be “re-sequenced” once the EU’s new target dates are published in the second quarter. For Belgian corporates the reprieve removes a major administrative hurdle from the 2026 conference calendar. Mobility managers no longer need to rush awareness campaigns for overseas clients or fly-in staff, and TMCs can postpone ETIAS data-capture integrations.
![Schengen’s ETIAS travel authorisation pushed back to 2027, giving Belgium extra time to equip airports]()
For companies that would rather outsource the heavy lifting, VisaHQ’s Belgium portal (https://www.visahq.com/belgium/) offers automated compliance alerts, document-checking services and dedicated account managers to guide travellers through Schengen visas, ETIAS registration and other consular formalities. The platform’s plug-and-play API can slot into existing booking or HR systems, giving mobility teams an easy way to stay ahead of future rule changes without adding extra headcount.
Nevertheless, companies are urged to maintain budget lines for: (1) biometric-capable passport scanners at reception desks; (2) traveller-tracking tools that can flag impending 90/180-day Schengen limits; and (3) contingency planning around the EES go-live, now slated for late 2026. Border-control unions welcomed the breathing space, arguing that kiosk procurement, systems testing and passenger-flow modelling at Zaventem were lagging well behind schedule. Airlines, meanwhile, fear yet another last-minute shift will confuse travellers and shift blame for denied boarding onto carriers. The Federal Interior Service told *The Brussels Times* it will continue dry-runs with volunteer passengers so that procedures are “battle-tested the day Brussels goes live.” Although the delay offers short-term relief, Belgian firms should not become complacent. Once operational, ETIAS authorisations will be mandatory even for short sales trips, board meetings and trade-fair visits. Global mobility teams should therefore embed the €20 fee and processing lead-time (currently 96 hours, extendable to 30 days if manual review is triggered) into their standard travel-approval workflows well before the system’s final launch window.
For companies that would rather outsource the heavy lifting, VisaHQ’s Belgium portal (https://www.visahq.com/belgium/) offers automated compliance alerts, document-checking services and dedicated account managers to guide travellers through Schengen visas, ETIAS registration and other consular formalities. The platform’s plug-and-play API can slot into existing booking or HR systems, giving mobility teams an easy way to stay ahead of future rule changes without adding extra headcount.
Nevertheless, companies are urged to maintain budget lines for: (1) biometric-capable passport scanners at reception desks; (2) traveller-tracking tools that can flag impending 90/180-day Schengen limits; and (3) contingency planning around the EES go-live, now slated for late 2026. Border-control unions welcomed the breathing space, arguing that kiosk procurement, systems testing and passenger-flow modelling at Zaventem were lagging well behind schedule. Airlines, meanwhile, fear yet another last-minute shift will confuse travellers and shift blame for denied boarding onto carriers. The Federal Interior Service told *The Brussels Times* it will continue dry-runs with volunteer passengers so that procedures are “battle-tested the day Brussels goes live.” Although the delay offers short-term relief, Belgian firms should not become complacent. Once operational, ETIAS authorisations will be mandatory even for short sales trips, board meetings and trade-fair visits. Global mobility teams should therefore embed the €20 fee and processing lead-time (currently 96 hours, extendable to 30 days if manual review is triggered) into their standard travel-approval workflows well before the system’s final launch window.
